Rock Hudson (November 17, 1925 - October 2, 1985) was an American actor, famous for his rugged good looks. A homosexual, he was the first major American celebrity known to have died from an AIDS-related illness (specifically, cancer of the lymph glands), and the announcement of his death from the disease at the age of 59 brought it wider public attention in the United States.

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois. He was later adopted and acquired the name Roy Fitzgerald. He served in the United States Navy during World War II as an aeroplane mechanic. His good looks and strapping size got him a Hollywood audition; capped teeth and a name change got him a small part in the 1948 film Fighter Squadron. In 1956 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Giant, and two years later, Look Magazine named him Star of the Year. He formed a lasting association with Douglas Sirk, director of "women's pictures": the result was some of Hudson's best screen roles, in the films Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, and The Tarnished Angels.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Hudson was known for three 'bedroom farces' co-starring Doris Day. The two made Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers together. After his death, fans would note the irony in the fact that in both Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back Hudson played a straight man who would pretend to be girl-shy or even gay in order to get a woman into bed; and in Send Me No Flowers, he played a middle-aged husband who believed he had a medical condition with only a few months to live. He also starred in the 1964 Howard Hawks comedy Man's Favorite Sport?, as an armchair fishing expert.

Many consider the finest performance of his career to be that of the young Malibu painter Tony Wilson into whom the elderly New York City banker Arthur Hamilton is transformed in John Frankenheimer's 1966 science fiction film Seconds. The film, ahead of its time, and lacking the usual glossiness expected of a Hudson film, was a box office flop.

After that his popularity at the cinema diminished, but he was successful on television, where from 1971 to 1978, Hudson starred opposite Susan Saint James, with whom he did not get along, in the popular American television series McMillan and Wife that aired on NBC. There was speculation at the time that Hudson was furious to learn that the well-connected Saint James received a higher salary than he did.

Death from AIDS

Hudson never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. However, it was widely rumoured by the early 1980s when he starred on the TV series The Devlin Connection. Production on the series was suspended for a year while Hudson recovered from quintuple bypass heart surgery necessitated by his years of cigarette smoking and heavy drinking.

By the time Hudson took a role on the TV series Dynasty, the AIDS virus was consuming him - he had difficulty speaking and had suffered severe memory loss, which forced him to use cue cards. Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS on June 5, 1984, but when the signs of illness became apparent, his publicity staff and doctors told the public that he had liver cancer. It was not until July 25, 1985, that a spokesperson for Hudson finally acknowledged he had AIDS. This had an enormous impact - he was the first famous wealthy person who was a Republican, and a symbol of heterosexuality and who had been struck down with a disease that so many people had tried to ignore. His worldwide search for a cure drew international attention, and he flew to Paris for a blood transfusion, but had to return to America in a 727 jetliner on his own due to the scare stories of the time. In a late press release, he speculated that he got AIDS from the multiple blood transfusions he received when he had undergone a heart bypass. At the time of his operation, blood was not tested for the as-yet unknown HIV antibody.

After Hudson's death on October 2, 1985, Doris Day, widely thought to be a close off-screen friend, said she never knew he was gay. Carol Burnett, who often worked on television and in live theatre with Hudson, was a staunch defender of her friend, telling an interviewer that she knew about his sexuality and did not care. As Morgan Fairchild said, "Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face."

Hudson was cremated and his ashes buried at sea. Following the funeral, his partner Marc Christian filed a palimony lawsuit against his estate and won on the grounds of emotional distress caused by Hudson's failure to reveal his positive HIV status. Having been awarded $25 million by the jury, the amount was reduced by the judge to $5 million. The decision was appealed, and Christian won the appeal. But an out-of-court settlement was reached in 1991 rather than the estate losing in the California Supreme Court. As of 2006, Christian remains HIV negative.

Hudson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard.

Trivia

• Hudson worked as a truck driver when he first moved to Los Angeles, but he spent his spare time idling outside studio gates and sending photographs of himself to various producers.
• Hudson's real name was Roy Scherer, but talent scout Henry Willson invented a new name by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River.
• Although he tried out for school plays, Hudson failed to win any roles because he could not remember lines
• As a teenager, the movie fan Hudson worked as an usher
• Before taking his first film role, Hudson had his teeth capped and was coached intensively in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and riding
• It took no less than 38 takes before he could successfully complete one line in his first picture, Fighter Squadron.
• Made "Top 10 stars of the year", 7 times between 1958-1964.

Filmography

• Fighter Squadron (1948)
• Undertow (1949)
• One Way Street (1950)
• I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
• Peggy (1950)
• Winchester '73 (1950)
• The Desert Hawk (1950)
• Shakedown (1950)
• Tomahawk (1951)
• Air Cadet (1951)
• The Fat Man (1951)
• Bright Victory (1951)
• Iron Man (1951)
• Bend of the River (1952)
• Here Come the Nelsons (1952)
• Scarlet Angel (1952)
• Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)
• Horizons West (1952)
• The Lawless Breed (1953)
• Seminole (1953)
• Sea Devils (1953)
• The Golden Blade (1953)
• Gun Fury (1953)
• Back to God's Country (1953)
• Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) (narrator)
• Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)
• Magnificent Obsession (1954)
• Bengal Brigade (1954)
• Captain Lightfoot (1955)
• One Desire (1955)
• All That Heaven Allows (1955)
• Never Say Goodbye (1956)
• Giant (1956)
• Written on the Wind (1956)
• Battle Hymn (1956)
• Something of Value (1957)
• A Farewell to Arms (1957)
• The Tarnished Angels (1958)
• Twilight for the Gods (1958)
• This Earth Is Mine (1959)
• Pillow Talk (1959)
• The Last Sunset (1961)
• Come September (1961)
• Lover Come Back (1961)
• The Spiral Road (1962)
• Marilyn (1963) (documentary) (narrator)
• A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
• Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
• Send Me No Flowers (1964)
• Strange Bedfellows (1965)
• A Very Special Favor (1965)
• Blindfold (1965)
• Seconds (1966)
• Tobruk (1967)
• Ice Station Zebra (1968)
• A Fine Pair (1969)
• The Undefeated (1969)
• Darling Lili (1970)
• Hornets' Nest (1970)
• Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
• Once Upon a Dead Man (1971) (TVM)
• "McMillan and Wife" (1971-1977) (TV series)
• Showdown (1973)
• Embryo (1976)
• "Wheels" (1978) (TV miniseries)
• Avalanche (1978)
• "The Martian Chronicles" (1980) (TV miniseries)
• The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
• The Star Maker (1981) (TVM)
• World War III (1982) (TVM)
• "The Devlin Connection" (1982) (TV series)
• The Ambassador (1984)
• The Vegas Strip War (1984) (TVM)
• "Dynasty" (1984-1985) (TV series)